Capturing the Seeker
by Realmer06
Summary: 2nd in the Seeker Trilogy. One-shot. "I'm going to be blunt with you, Lily. You and James belong together." After six-and-a-half years of fighting, Lily and James are finally figuring that out.


Part Two of the Seeker Trilogy. This follows "Watching the Seeker" and it's a good idea to read that one first. Don't worry -- it's a one-shot and shouldn't take you long!  
  
DISCLAIMER: Lily and James and the Marauders and Hogwarts and the like are a part of the genius that is JK Rowling, which I, sadly, do not possess. I would love to take credit, but I cannot. sigh So, I content myself with manipulating them instead. :)

* * *

_Recap: "Does that mean you'll come to Hogsmeade with me on Valentine's weekend?" Lily almost rolled her eyes, but smiled instead.  
  
"Sure."_  
** Capturing the Seeker  
**  
Lily sat in a booth in the corner of the Three Broomsticks, looking over some papers. She glanced up as the door opened and smiled when a harried-looking James Potter hurried in. He looked around the crowded pub, his eyes finally settling on Lily. He walked over to her, apologizing.  
  
"Lily, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting like this. I tried to get here earlier, but one thing led to another and I –"  
  
"James, it's fine."  
  
"Sirius was being . . ."  
  
"Sirius?"  
  
"I was going for difficult, but that works, too." He made to sit across from her, but she stopped him.  
  
"No, sit here, James," she said, patting the spot next to her. "I want to show you something."  
  
"Yeah? What is it?"  
  
"Well, if you'll sit down, you'll see, won't you?" she laughed. He grinned and sat beside her. "So, what was Sirius being difficult about?" James rolled his eyes.  
  
"This. I told the Marauders I couldn't go to Hogsmeade with them because I was spending the day with you, and Sirius didn't want to let me leave until he'd played twenty questions with me about eighty times."  
  
"Hmm. That's sixteen hundred questions."  
  
"That's what it felt like. I finally got away from him, but I couldn't find you, so I was hoping you'd already gone ahead and that you'd let me explain."  
  
"It's no problem. I figured I'd better get here and save us a table before it filled up and we were forced to meet somewhere like Madam Puddifoot's." They both made faces of equal disgust.  
  
"I've been in there once," James said. "Once. And I got out as soon as I could without insulting anyone."  
  
"I've been there once, too. My date kept trying to snog me across the table. I finally just stopped being polite and left. Give me the Three Broomsticks any day and a guy who wouldn't dare kiss me without my consent."  
  
"So I have your consent, then?" He waggled his eyebrows in an exaggerated manner. She laughed and pushed him away.  
  
"Don't push your luck, Potter."  
  
"Yeah, I saw that coming. So, what did you want to show me?"  
  
"These." She pushed the papers she had been reading towards him. "They're some of my favorites." He picked up the top paper. They were about him, of course. It made him laugh. He was reading about his first encounter with Remus.  
  
_He waits. It's all been carefully planned between the three first-year boys. They intend to make a name for themselves with this prank on the Slytherin fifth year, Lucius Malfoy. Hidden in shadows, they wait for him to come out of the Great Hall. He runs a hand through his black hair in anticipation. Lucius is always the first one out of the Hall after breakfast, as the three long-term friends were so informed on the train ride here. He knows that if they can pull off this prank on their first hour here, they'll be unstoppable and earn the position of Hogwart's top prankers.   
  
He watches as the doors creak open, his face bright with delight as the prank goes off without a hitch. He laughs and exchanges high fives with the two other boys – then he sees who the prank has been pulled on. His face flushes as he realizes that it is not Lucius Malfoy, but the quiet boy from their dormitory.  
  
He tries to apologize, but it is too late. The other boy, convinced they have been trying to humiliate him, runs off before they can say a word. They chase after him.  
  
A half-hour later, the four boys come back downstairs, laughing and joking, inseparable friends. No one knows what has happened.  
_  
James laughed when he reached the end. "It's so . . abrupt."  
  
She shrugged. "I didn't know what happened. I saw you set the prank up and I knew who it was intended for and that it hit Remus instead. You all went tearing after him and somehow, the Marauders were born."  
  
"Yeah." He smiled at the memory. "We chased after him because we wanted him to know we weren't trying to embarrass him. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We felt bad. Didn't even know the guy. We'd only met him the night before. He wouldn't believe us at first. He wanted to know why were pranking Lucius in the first place. Sirius told him it was because he was a Slytherin. Which didn't help at all, and really only succeeded in making things worse. Remus tried to end the conversation there. He wasn't very happy with us, I don't think. In an effort to save our reputations with him, I told him it was also because we weren't going to put up with any pranks just because we were first years.  
  
"'And that's a reason to prank people just because they're Slytherins?' he wanted to know. Peter told him, no, of course it wasn't, but Lucius deserved it after what he'd done to you on the train, just because you were Muggleborn. 'We want him and all the other Slytherins to know that they can't insult students like that and we'll be the ones to help anyone they do treat that way.' That's what Peter said. Remus asked us if we were serious pranksters, or if we were the kind who blow it all the time by messing something up. Well, I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Neither was Sirius. But Peter jumped right in and said that this was the first prank that we'd pulled that had gone askew, and we'd been pranking since we met six years ago. Then Remus did something none of us had expected. He grinned. He grinned and he told us it had been a wonderful prank and he was a little upset with himself that he hadn't seen it coming. Turned out, Remus was a huge practical joker, too! So, that's where it all started."  
  
"That's hilarious," she told him, laughing. "Wish I'd known! What I could have done with that!"  
  
"I wish I could."  
  
"Could what?"  
  
"Write."  
  
"My father is a professional photographer," Lily said.  
  
"My favorite musical is Godspell," James replied. She rolled her eyes.  
  
"I was making a transition, James."  
  
"My apologies. By all means, finish transitioning." She glared.  
  
"I plan to. Anyway, my father was a professional photographer. I used to love to look at his pictures because he could capture a single moment or memory so perfectly, and I could always remember the event in perfect detail. I wanted to learn how. He tried to teach me, but I just didn't have the knack. I never captured what I wanted in my pictures. I would look at them and wonder what it the world it was supposed to be. I just couldn't do it. Until I started writing. See, I talked about this to my grandpa, and he suggested I try writing things down. He gave me my first journal. I realized that I could take pictures. I just had to do it with words, not images."  
  
"I could never do that. I could never do what you do, Lily."  
  
"Well, I could never catch a Snitch. I'd never be able to play Quidditch."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"Completely. I'm a lost cause on a broomstick."  
  
"But it's so easy!"   
  
"That's what my dad said about photography. And that's what I say about writing. Thing with Quidditch is, I have to actually learn to fly first, and that'll never happen."  
  
"C'mon. You teach me to write, I'll teach you to fly." Her eyes widened and she shook her head emphatically.  
  
"No. No, no, no, no, no! Not happening! Never!" He looked at her for a moment, then he grinned.  
  
"Lily."  
  
"James, don't go there."  
  
"You're afraid of heights, aren't you?"  
  
"No! I am not afraid of heights! Why should I be afraid? I mean, it's not like the broomstick is going to decide to buck me off or the cliff is going to crumble beneath my feet or the windows and wall of the top floor of Hogwarts are going to suddenly evaporate and plunge me to my doom–" She shuddered and James' grin widened. "Stop it!" she told him.  
  
"Oh, this is too good to be true."   
  
"James Potter! Don't you dare, so help me –" He laughed. She grinned sheepishly. "It's not my fault. It's an irrational fear and I know that, but that doesn't change the feeling –" She shuddered again. "You know, I'd really rather not think about it." But James wasn't paying any attention to her – he was laughing too hard. "You know, Potter, I'd shut up if I were you. I've got the dirt on you, you know."  
  
"What dirt could you possibly have on me?" he asked between more fits of laughter. She whispered something in his ear that sobered him immediately. "How did you find out about that?"  
  
She smiled at him. "Oh, I have my ways, Mr. Potter."  
  
"Lily, seriously, no one can find out about that. No one at all –"  
  
"James," she said, cutting him off and laying her hand on his arm. "No one is going to find out from me. Remus is my friend, too, and as for the rest of you, well, you do annoy me to no end, but I think it's sweet what you're doing for him, if a little dangerous. I mean, as long as you're not taking him out into the village, it's not really a problem." James looked away. "James –"  
  
"Lily, we're as cautious as it is possible to be, I promise! We plan it all carefully, every month."  
  
"The best laid plans of mice and men," she said.   
  
"Lily, it's for Remus. And it helps. Besides, Peter and Sirius and I can control him."  
  
"You'd better make sure you can."  
  
"Lily, no one is out on a full moon, for that very reason. All the villagers know they exist and thrive in the Forbidden Forest. We've got it under control. You can't tell."  
  
"I won't, but I want you to make sure you're as careful as can be."  
  
"Always. We may not always take schoolwork seriously, but we take that seriously. We know what's at stake."  
  
"See that you never lose sight of that."   
  
"Concerned for me? I'm touched." She rolled her eyes.  
  
"I wouldn't be. It's not for you, numbskull." He pouted. "Don't give me that," she said, pushing him playfully.  
  
"Okay, so, about those flying lessons . . ."  
  
"James, no! I'm serious. I freak out if I get higher than four feet off the ground!"  
  
"But half your classes are in the top floor of the school!"  
  
"Yes, but I'm not aware of it when I'm inside a classroom. Haven't you noticed I never sit by the window?"  
  
"It's just so crazy."  
  
"You don't have to tell me that," she said defensively.  
  
"I mean, it's perfect. Here we have Lily. Lily's a top student. Lily's perfect in everything and she stands up for herself and for others. But Lily's afraid of heights. Classic irrational fear."  
  
"Are you trying to tell me that you never had an irrational fear when you were young? You weren't afraid of monsters in the closet or anything?"  
  
"Nope. And I have none now."  
  
"That's not true."  
  
"Oh, isn't it?"  
  
"No, it's not. You're afraid of being laughed at for being different. You're afraid of failure."  
  
"You're one to talk."  
  
"I never denied that I was afraid of failure, did I? But the failure I'm afraid of is different than the one you're afraid of."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"I'm afraid of failing in classes. Looking stupid in front of the teachers or not living up to their expectations. You, on the other hand, breeze off your classes, don't care what the teachers think. It's what the students think that matters to you. The opinion of your peers. Your reputation. You don't want that to fail."  
  
"And that's irrational?"  
  
"Completely." James chuckled. "What?"  
  
"This is a conversation I could only have with you, you know that?"  
  
"You mean intelligent?"  
  
"I mean a serious, psychological topic."  
  
"Well, you hang out with Sirius Black. What do you expect?"  
  
"Hey now, I'd trust Sirius with my life."  
  
"I never said he wasn't trustworthy. Or a good friend. I'm just saying that for all his name may imply otherwise, Sirius is incapable of carrying on a serious conversation. Well, maybe not incapable, but it's not likely to become a regular occurrence."  
  
"There's nothing I can do but agree with you."  
  
"That's usually the case when I'm right."   
  
James stared at her for a moment, then started to laugh. "You know," he said, "this is probably the nicest conversation I've had with a member of the opposite sex since third year."  
  
"Really? I find that hard to believe." The waitress came over with their check. Lily reached for the change in her pocket but James stopped her.  
  
"No, let me. I made you wait. I'll pay."  
  
"Oh, that's not necessary –"  
  
"I insist."  
  
"Let him pay," said the waitress. "After a while, the boyfriends stop offering. Take advantage of yours while you can."  
  
"Oh, he's not–" Lily started, but the waitress had collected James' money, winked, and left. James stood and offered her his arm. She rolled her eyes, but took it. They walked down the street as they continued their conversation.  
  
"Anyway, yes, it's true. Girls started acting really weird toward me around third year. It was flattering for a while, but then it got a bit annoying. Every day, love notes, date requests, marriage proposals, people following me down the halls, begging for a _glance._ Unnerving, you know? I couldn't have a normal conversation with any of them; they were too busy drooling over me and giggling." Lily laughed at that, and James noticed it was a laugh, not a giggle. Lily didn't giggle. "But you've always been different."  
  
"Why? Because I didn't drool over you?"  
  
"Yeah. And as much as I hated the attention, it always bugged me that you didn't. Which is why I tended to . . . show off around you."  
  
"Let me get this straight. You hated people following you around and hanging on your every move, but it bugged you that I didn't?"  
  
"Yeah. Sounds so stupid when you say it."  
  
"Well . . ."  
  
They walked through Hogsmeade, sharing more stories, laughing, and having a grand time. All too soon, the time had come for them to go back to the school. On the front steps of Hogwarts, they met up with the other Marauders.  
  
"Well, James," Lily said, "I had a lovely time. I'm rather impressed, too. You managed to stop being a prat for the entire afternoon. I'm proud of you." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and hurried up the stairs to her Common Room, leaving a staring James in her wake.

* * *

Peter, Remus, and Sirius all but dragged him into the Gryffindor Common Room.  
  
"All right, Prongs. Spill," Peter ordered.  
  
"Yeah. Just what went on today with Lily?" demanded Remus. James just smiled and shook his head.  
  
"What makes you think that _anything_ went on?"  
  
"Come off it! She kissed you on the cheek. She called you James. Something happened."  
  
"Nothing happened," he stated simply. The Marauders tackled him. From under a tangle of bodies, he yelled, "Nothing happened! What do you want from me?" They slowly let him up.  
  
"The truth, Prongs," Sirius said obviously.  
  
"Nothing happened. I swear. We sat in the Three Broomsticks and _talked_."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Little bit of everything. Writing, photography, Quidditch, fears, friendships, girls, intelligent conversations, Sirius, boyfriends, no, that was the waitress . . ."  
  
"Boyfriends?" Sirius pounced on him. James rolled his eyes and pushed him off.  
  
"Yes, Padfoot, boyfriends. I paid for the butterbeers and she wasn't going to let me, but the waitress said she should let her boyfriend pay. So we had a good laugh over it and that was that."  
  
"And then . . ." Sirius prompted.  
  
"You are worse than a dog with a bone! And then, nothing. We moved on to another topic of conversation."  
  
"You talked about me?"   
  
"Yes, Padfoot, a little. And Wormtail and Moony, too."  
  
"So, the Marauders, then," Sirius clarified.  
  
"Well, yes, but as a whole. Then we talked about you individually, Sirius."  
  
"I demand to know what was said."  
  
"I don't think I'm going to tell you."  
  
"General assessment of the afternoon, James?" Peter asked.  
  
"I had a wonderful time and I think – I know – she did, too."  
  
"Who'd of thought it?" Peter said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"That all you had to do to get Lily to like you was . . . be nice to her. What a novel idea!"  
  
"I prefer to think she was won over by my wit and charm." Remus opened his mouth to reply, then closed it.  
  
"No, there's no way to respond to that."

* * *

The Marauders weren't the only ones who noticed a change. Lily's friends saw it, too. One Wednesday night, as the seventh years were coming down from the astronomy tower, James noticed Lily as she carefully made her way down the tower steps with her friends, concentrating on each step as it came.  
  
"All right there, Lily?" he asked with a grin. She glared at him.  
  
"Fine, why do you ask?" she asked through gritted teeth.  
  
"No reason. Just asking a polite question of my co-Head."  
  
"Thank you, James. Now, if you'd be so kind as to move? You're blocking the stairway, and some of us have places to be."  
  
"Such as off the staircase?" She glared, but couldn't help smiling. He laughed. "Will you be in the Common Room in a few minutes? I'd like a word."  
  
"Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can." He winked, she rolled her eyes, smiling, which made him laugh and bound away down the staircase, leaving her with her staring friends.  
  
"Was he _flirting_ with you?" asked Jen.  
  
"Wouldn't be the first time."  
  
"Yes, but it would be the first time you flirted _back_," Chrissy put in.  
  
"I was _not_ flirting with him!"  
  
"Yeah, Lils, you were."  
  
"I was not! If anything, it was just a little teasing."  
  
"Lils, just to make sure, you do know who that was, don't you?" asked Jen.  
  
"Yeah, that was James Potter."  
  
"Whom you hate, remember?" said Chrissy.  
  
"I don't hate him." Both girls stared. They had listened to Lily rant about James for all seven of their years at Hogwarts, and now she was denying hating him? Chrissy put her hand on Lily's forehead.  
  
"I think we need to take her to the Hospital Wing, Jen."  
  
"Yeah, something is definitely wrong with her."  
  
"Guys, I'm fine." They reached the bottom of the staircase. "I'm just saying, he's not as bad as he used to be. Don't get me wrong," she said loudly, cutting off their replies, "he's still as big a prat as ever, but there are times when he's actually almost civil. I'll see you tomorrow." She turned and walked toward her Common Room. James was waiting for her.  
  
"Hello, Lily. Nice to see you got down from the Astronomy Tower without the stairs crumbling to dust beneath your feet."  
  
"Shut up. You did that on purpose. They're never going to leave me alone now, I'll have you know."  
  
"Turnabout is fair play, Miss Evans. Neither will the Marauders."  
  
"Neither will the entire school once this gets out." She went to bed.

* * *

After an excruciatingly long day, made so in part by her friends, Lily was sitting in the Common Room, finishing her Charms homework. James came in and sauntered over.  
  
"Writing about me, Lily?"  
  
"Don't flatter yourself, James. I'm finishing my Charms homework."  
  
"Oh, really. Uh . . say, what are you pulling in Charms?" She looked at him, suspicious.   
  
"An O. Why?"  
  
"I see. And . . uh . . what did you get on the last test?"  
  
"An O. Why?"  
  
"No reason. I was just . . just curious."  
  
"What are you pulling in Charms, James?" His smile froze before turning into a grimace. He looked guilty.  
  
"An A."  
  
"Ah. I see." Lily looked at him. "James, I'm going to say a phrase, and I want you to repeat it to me, okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"'Lily, will you please help me with my Charms homework?' Now you." He rolled his eyes and gave a half-laugh.  
  
"Lily, will you help me with my Charms homework?" he mumbled. She smiled.  
  
"Why, certainly, James! How good of you to ask."  
  
"I was trying to be more subtle than that."  
  
"You failed. Come on, sit here and tell me what you need."  
  
"I need to understand," he said, coming to sit beside her as she moved her books from the chair.  
  
"Understand what, exactly?"  
  
"All of it?"  
  
"Not to worry. I'll get you an O on your Charms N.E.W.T. if it's the last thing I do."  
  
"Lily, maybe I should give you a clearer picture. When I said I was getting an A, I meant I'm just barely getting an A, and that's only because Flitwick is very, very kind to me." Lily laughed.  
  
"I shall consider it a personal challenge, James." He took a deep breath, obviously doubtful.  
  
"As long as I pass Charms, that's enough for me. I hate to have to crush your ambitions, though.   
  
"We'll see." Lily was a dedicated tutor, much to James' chagrin. Though the other Marauders wondered where he went every night, when told he could be found bent over a book with Lily, they exchanged knowing grins.   
  
Soon, Lily and James were the closest of friends, teasing each other at every opportunity and they were always laughing. James' days were spent with the Marauders, playing practical jokes, just like old times. But his nights were spent with his 'study buddy' Lily. The N.E.W.T.'s came closer every day, and the seventh year students could feel the strain. For the first time in his life, James was getting all his weekend homework done on Friday night, in order to leave the weekend open. It was on such a clear Saturday night in April that Lily received a note. 'Meet me by the lake tonight at five,' it said. So, after supper, she headed out.  
  
James was standing by the lake, grinning.  
  
"What do you want now?" He held out his hand, and she took it, laughing. He escorted her across the grounds, heading toward the Quidditch pitch. Lily had a suspicion of what was going on. It was confirmed when she saw the two broomsticks hovering on the pitch.  
  
"James, no!"  
  
"Come on, Lily! I want to give you something. You've been helping me with my homework for the past two months! I'm going to pass my Charms N.E.W.T. thanks to you. I just want to show you what it's like."  
  
"More like you'll get me up there and push me off for being such a strict task master! There is no way on Earth you are getting me on that broomstick, James Potter, let alone in the air."  
  
"Is that your final word?"  
  
"Yes!" He sighed.  
  
"All right. But you don't mind if I go for a little fly, do you?"  
  
"No," she said slowly, not trusting her co-Head.  
  
"Good!" He jumped on a flew once around the stadium. Then he swooped down toward her, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her onto the broomstick. She froze.   
  
"James." Her voice came out as a half-whisper, half-whimper.  
  
"Lily," he said in a soothing whisper. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you up here. I am in control. You are not going to fall. Just close your eyes, lean back into me, and relax. You deserve the chance to feel the wind on your face as you fly through the air, and I'm going to give it to you."  
  
She did as he said, leaning back into him so his arms were tight around her. Her eyes were scrunched as tight as they could be. He could feel her shaking and as he pulled the broomstick up higher still, he heard her gasp. He flew her gently around the stadium, and after she had relaxed a little, he picked up speed.  
  
"How are you doing?" he asked over the wind at one point.  
  
"I'm flying fifty feet above the ground with little more support than a stick. How do you think I'm doing?" she snapped. He laughed.   
  
Slowly, she opened her eyes, looking anywhere but at the ground below. After a little more time had passed, she closed her eyes again, but raised her head to the sky and smiled. James smiled, too.  
  
They stayed in the air for ten minutes, and when they landed, Lily stumbled off the broom.  
  
"Whoops," James said, catching her and helping her the rest of the way off. She leaned against him for a moment, regaining her composure. After a few deeps breaths, she stood on her own again and looked him fiercely in the eye.  
  
"So help me, Potter, if you ever do anything like that again . . ." It was all James could do to keep from laughing. He could not, however, stop a smile from spreading over his face. "But . . . thanks."  
  
"Same time next week?" She stared at him helplessly for a moment, then sighed.  
  
"I don't suppose I can get out of it?"  
  
"No, probably not."  
  
"You're going to kill me someday, James."  
  
"Goodness, I hope not."  
  
"Why?" She peered at him for a moment. He adjusted his glasses and shrugged.  
  
"Bodies mean paperwork." She stared at him for a moment, then laughed.  
  
"You are such a lout!"  
  
"Yes, I know. And a big-headed, egotistical prat. May I walk you to the castle?" He held out his arm. Laughing, she took it.  
  
So it became another tradition. Every Saturday after supper, James would take Lily down to the Quidditch pitch and give her a flying lesson. In a month's time, her fear of heights was gone completely, and she was challenging him to races on her broomstick, and losing horribly every time.

* * *

Lily sat in the window seat of Gryffindor Tower, the window open, gazing out at the night sky and the full moon. Jen and Chrissy came hurrying over.  
  
"Lils, are you all right?" Jen asked, worried.  
  
"Yeah, aren't you scared with the window open?" Lily laughed quietly.  
  
"Why should I be?"  
  
"Code Red! Code Red! Amnesia has set in! Alert! Alert!" Jen called. Lily laughed again, taking her attention from the grounds to reassure her friends.  
  
"No, it hasn't. I don't mind heights anymore. I guess I grew out of my fear."  
  
"What were you looking at?"  
  
"Nothing," Lily said quickly.   
  
"We expected to find you hunched over a pile of parchment or immersed in some textbook, what with N.E.W.T.'s in two weeks and all," Chrissy admitted.  
  
"No, my homework's all done and I don't study on Sundays." The two friends exchanged glances.  
  
"Since when?" they asked together.  
  
"Since . . . New Years. I made a resolution. No crazy studying sessions. I expect I'll give myself a refresher course for an hour the afternoon before the tests, but until the, I don't study on the weekends. I relax." Her eye caught something out the window and she stood up. "I've got to go, guys. I . . just remembered something I have to tell James!" she called over her shoulder as she left the tower.  
  
"I don't care what she says," Jen told Chrissy. "Something is up, and if she won't tell us, I'm going to find out."  
  
"Yeah, she's being very un-Lily-ish. She doesn't usually keep secrets, and she obviously is now."  
  
"And what's up with James? Sometimes it seems as if she's spending more time with him than us. And it can't all be Head stuff."  
  
"Let's talk to the other Marauders tomorrow. Maybe they know something we don't."  
  
"Maybe? As if there's anything those boys don't know or can't find out!"

* * *

"All right, guys. Spill." It was the next afternoon. Lily and James were meeting with Professor Dumbledore, and the Marauders were working quietly in a corner of the Common Room.  
  
"What are we spilling?" Sirius asked.  
  
"What's up with Lily?" Jen asked.  
  
"How should we know? She's your friend," Sirius pointed out.  
  
"You remember fifth year all too well, I'm sure. How Lily was a total wreck before O.W.L.'s? Well, we expected this year to be a nightmare. But N.E.W.T.'s are two weeks away, and Lily's more relaxed than she was at first-year exams. Something's up," Jen concluded.  
  
"You three know everything about everybody in Hogwarts," Chrissy flattered, sitting beside Sirius. "You have to have noticed something. I've never seen Lily like this before. She's not afraid of heights anymore, either. And she's always with James. If she's not in classes or meetings with him, she's doing homework with him."  
  
"Yeah, we know," Sirius grumbled. "Got these two all excited about a study group, then deserts us for her!"  
  
"Padfoot, shut up," Remus told him. Then he turned to the girls. "But you've hit it right on. It's James. I have yet to figure out what exactly happened between those two, but they've stopped fighting completely and are actually friends now. I've personally never seen James so studious. But he has all his weekend homework done now by the time he goes to bed on Friday and he's going to pass Charms. With an O."  
  
"He's teaching her to fly," Peter said. The other four students looked at him in surprise. He nodded. "Every Saturday night. They go down to the Quidditch pitch. I think he kidnaped her the first time on his broomstick. But he's pretty much cured her acrophobia."  
  
"Lily and James . . . she's always gone on about what a prat he is and how much she hated him! We know! We were subjected to her rants almost every night," Chrissy said incredulously.  
  
"And we had to listen to him, too. Evans this and Evans that and 'Why won't she go out with me,'" groaned Sirius. "As if we had the answer!"  
  
"I guess you can only work together for so long without learning to agree to disagree," Remus surmised. "It's either that or kill each other."  
  
"Amazing."

* * *

Lily and James didn't find it as amazing as their friends did, however. They just went on being friends without really thinking about it. Lily kept writing about James, and she didn't tell him, she just wrote. They were content and happy in their friendship. And this was how things stayed until the Sunday afternoon before N.E.W.T.'s.  
  
Lily was in the Heads' Common Room alone, studying for her Transfiguration N.E.W.T. the next morning. As she looked over the material carefully, James came in from whatever activity he and the Marauders had been partaking in.   
  
"Studying without me? I'm hurt!" he said upon entry.  
  
"My apologies. But you weren't here and I have to get this done now because Jen and Chrissy are taking me out to Hogsmeade tonight."  
  
"Why?"   
  
"Well, since seventh years have permission for relaxation purposes, they offered to buy me dinner for my birthday."  
  
"Oh? When's your birthday?"  
  
"Today."  
  
"Ouch. Right before exams. You should have told me, I would have –" he stopped.   
  
"Yes?" Lily prompted.  
  
"Hold that thought," he said before sprinting up the stairs to his room. Shaking her head, Lily sighed.  
  
"My mother sent this with my Christmas stuff, for me to give to 'someone special,' she said. And now is as good a time as any." He held out a small box to her. It was black velvet and looked like a ring box. She opened it and her breath caught in her throat.  
  
"James . ." she whispered. In the box was a silver ring made of two holding hands.  
  
"It's a friendship ring," he said, sitting beside her. "My father gave it to my mother long before they were ever married. I didn't really know who to give it to, until now."  
  
"I-I don't know what to say."  
  
"Thank you is usually appropriate."  
  
"Oh, it's not enough, but thank you! Thank you!" She flung her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "It's beautiful." She started to put it on, then stopped. "It's not a magic ring, is it?"  
  
"The only magic it has is that it resizes to fit whoever is wearing it." She slipped it on her finger, and, sure enough, it fit perfectly. "That, and . . . whatever magic the giver and receiver bring to it." He said the last part very softly, and hesitantly, took her hand from where it rested on the sofa. She looked up at him and his eyes said plainly what he would not. Not wanting to decipher his gaze, she looked away.  
  
"The magic of friendship. Best kind," she said in a choked voice.  
  
"Lily," he whispered, kneeling in front of her. "It can be better. It can be better than this, for both of us." She closed her eyes against the tears that were coming. After a deep breath, she met his pleading gaze and shook her head.  
  
"No, James," she whispered back. "I don't think it can. Maybe for you, but I don't think it can for me. I don't want to change. Things are fine the way they are, and I think any attempt to make them better would really make them worse." He nodded, accepting, but she could see tears in his eyes as he refused to meet her gaze. "James, I'm so sorry." A tear fell down her cheek. She bit her lip, willing him to say something.  
  
"No, you may be right. You may be right. I just . . . no." He pulled out of the hug and placed his hands on her shoulders. He kissed her forehead. "Happy Birthday, Lils." He smiled, trying to mask the hopeless resignation in his eyes. Then he turned and left the room. Lily felt awful watching him leave. She lay on the sofa and cried. She would never forget that look of hopelessness as long as she lived.

* * *

N.E.W.T.'s gave Lily the excuse to stay away from James that week. They didn't study together anymore and she had lapsed back into her old, frantic studying habits. Jen, Chrissy, and the Marauders noticed this lapse as they had noticed the previous change, but this time, no one knew what had happened.  
  
Friday came and with it, the last of the N.E.W.T.'s. But someone was conspicuously absent from the seventh years' celebrations. That familiar red hair was nowhere to be found. Determined to do something, one small seventh year boy slipped away and up the stairway to the all-but-deserted Gryffindor Common Room. Lily sat in the window seat, looking at the party on the grounds below. Tears ran silently down her face, but she didn't seem to notice them.  
  
"Why aren't you down there, too?" She jumped.  
  
"Oh, hello, Peter. I didn't notice you standing there."  
  
"May I sit beside you?" She nodded. They sat in silence for a moment. "Well? Why aren't you down there, too? People expected to see you there. There are lots of people worried about you, Lily. Especially with how you've been acting this week."  
  
"I've not been acting differently this week than any other."  
  
"I suppose that's true, if it applies to any week in the six and a half years before Christmas. Something happened at Christmas, Lily, between you and James, and you changed. But this week, you went back to the old Lily. Why?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I'm going to be blunt with you, Lily. I hope that's okay, because I think that's what you need to hear right now. You and James belong together. And anyone who's ever seen you knows that. There are seldom two people so perfectly matched with each other. You don't see a lot of true love anymore. But it's there in you two.   
  
"All your friends have watched you two hound each other for six and a half years. We've watched you throw insults and listened to you rant about each other, and we had little hope things would ever change. But they did. You did. And sometimes things need to change. And you can't be afraid of the changes or try to prevent them when they're needed. You can't be afraid to take things to the next level with James, because that's where you two have been trying to get for all your lives. There are some things that are simply meant to be, whether you will them or no, and it's best to give in to them when the time comes. Because it doesn't matter how many times you suppress them, they'll keep popping up again. And if you don't learn to listen to your heart, you're libel to make mistakes you'll regret forever. Fact is, Lily, you can deny fate all you want, and push it away from you all of your life. But it's going to be a pretty lonely and unhappy life if you do." He left.   
  
Lily walked after him a few moments later, standing at the top of the steps for a long time. But finally, she turned and went to her room. For another hour, she wrote. The sky darkened and nighttime fell and the seventh years began to filter inside. She taped the paper to James' door and went to bed.  
  
James came inside, hoping to find Lily, but there was no sign of her. Shoulders sagging, he went to his room, pausing at the sight of the paper taped to his door. She could just barely see his face through the peephole, but she could tell he smiled. He sat on the sofa by the fire to read through it.  
  
_He waits. He watches for her reaction and fears the worse. She sits, and does not reply. She is different now. He has changed her. She is no longer the strict and stressed Head Girl she once was. He is different now, too. She has changed him. He is no longer the egotistical All-Star he once thought himself.   
  
These changes have not gone by unnoticed. Where once they yelled, now they laugh. Where once they fought, now they tease. Where once they hated, now they admire. They have learned what they never knew. They have seen the other side of the person they never knew. They have grown.  
  
They have changed so much, without noticing the changes. They have learned, without recognizing the lessons. They have found, in this newly forged friendship, what they have been looking for all their lives.  
  
He: a person who didn't adore his every move, who didn't hang on his every word. She: a person who looked past her exterior and appreciated her for who she really was. No one expected them to come this far, and at the same time, everyone hoped for it.  
  
She hears whispers of fate. She wonders, but shrugs the tales off. She is content, so she says. She does not want change. How does she explain what has happened these last six months? She cannot deny them, how does she explain them?  
  
She has yet to figure out how. But she has learned this much: as much as she does not want change, change will come. And if she tries to push him away, things will still change. She begs that they remain as they once were.   
  
He waits. She asks, "Same time next week?"_  
  
As if he knew she was watching, he glanced toward her closed door and smiled, nodding. She let out a sigh of relief and slid down against the closed door.

* * *

He was waiting for her when she got to the Quidditch pitch, leaning on his broom.   
  
"I was afraid you weren't going to show," he said as she approached.  
  
"Of course I showed. It's Saturday night. We have a tradition."  
  
"Yes, but this week has put traditions off a bit, hasn't it?"  
  
"Well, yeah," Lily conceded. "But you still knew I was coming. You did, after all, read my note last night." He smiled softly and looked at the ground.  
  
"Look, Lily, I just want to apologize–"  
  
"No, James. You don't need to. Just forget about it, okay? We're fine, aren't we?"  
  
"Yeah. We're fine," he said nodding. "I have something for you."  
  
"You just got me a birthday present!"  
  
"Well, this is a graduation present." He held out a long, thin package, which she took.  
  
"James," she started suspiciously, starting to open it. She gasped. "James, you didn't." Lying inside the paper was a broomstick. A new, top of the line broomstick. A Nimbus 1000 broomstick, model just released at Christmas.   
  
"No, I didn't. That's a holographic image and it isn't really there and it'll blip out of existence once you're in the air. You found me out," he replied sarcastically. She smacked him lightly.   
  
"Why? Are you trying to tell me you had a spare five hundred galleons or so just lying around, and you decided to spend it on me?"  
  
"Well, no, because broomsticks aren't that expensive generally, and I didn't spend any money on you."  
  
"James–"  
  
"My father bought it for me."  
  
"And you're giving it to me?" Lily was incredulous.  
  
"Let me explain. My father has bought me a new broomstick every Christmas since I was old enough to ride one, no matter how many times I've asked him not to. My Silver Arrow rides fine and has since third year, which is the last time I accepted one of these. I love it, I'm accustomed to it, and I'm not trading it in for a newer model. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team has been supplied with new broomsticks now, and I didn't have anyone to give this one to. So I figured now that you're riding, you might as well have a decent broom. That way I may not whip you quite so badly when we race. Just don't leave it lying around."  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't. Petunia would probably use it to sweep the kitchen floor." James' eyes grew wide as he pictured a state-of-the-art racing broom being used to clean a floor. Lily laughed. "Although it might well be worth the look on her face when it starts floating." If possible, his eyes grew wider in horror. "Oh, relax, James! C'mon, I'm challenging you to a race."  
  
They were off around the pitch, once, twice, three times. As they neared the designated finish line, James pulled back the slightest bit, allowing Lily to fly across first. As she circled in triumph, he landed, smiling. She landed beside him, gleeful and gloating.  
  
"I beat you! I finally beat you!" He nodded.  
  
"Yep. Good job."  
  
"What, no rematch?" she teased. "No excuses? You're just going to allow me to be a better flyer than you from now on?" He shrugged and she looked at him suspiciously.  
  
"Well, no, Lily, but . . I just . . wait a minute!" She glared at him.  
  
"You let me win!" she accused.  
  
"Now, I would never–"  
  
"You let me win!" she repeated, jabbing him with her finger. James mouthed soundlessly, trying to deny it and failing. "Potter . . ." she threatened.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Run." He took off as fast as he could manage. She jumped on her broom and soon caught up with him.  
  
"Hey, no fair!" he shouted as she closed in on him. She jumped off and tackled him, engaging in a furious tickling match. The Marauders and Jen and Chrissy watched all this from the Gryffindor Common Room Tower with growing amusement.   
  
"Seems like whatever was wrong this week has been fixed," Remus commented.  
  
"Probably just the stress from exams," Chrissy said. Peter just smiled.

* * *

"The train leaves tomorrow at ten. We need to be at the train station at nine-thirty and in Dumbledore's office at quarter after, so the Marauders are going to take care of our trunks and stuff while we leave to get stuff ready," James told Lily as they were cleaning the Common Room that night. They were spending their last night in Hogwarts.   
  
"What time are they coming?"  
  
"About nine, I think. About the time we need to leave."  
  
"So you gave them our password?" Lily wanted to know. James smiled.  
  
"Yes, but I also left Genevieve with specific instructions that she is not allowed to admit anyone into the room before nine. But that means your trunk has to be ready to go when they get here."  
  
"What time are you going down to breakfast?"  
  
"Eight fifteen. Will you join me?"  
  
"Certainly. It's a date." She winked at him and continued cleaning out old papers that had lain forgotten in the corner since Christmas.  
  
"Okay, I think we've gotten all our stuff out of here. The House elves will get the rest. I'm gonna finish packing and then go to bed. G'night, Lily."  
  
"Night, James." She watched his door close and smiled sadly before going into her own room.  
  
Her trunk was all but packed, except for her nightclothes and a certain box of parchment under her desk. She changed, laying her uniform carefully over the chair by her bed. She sat at her desk, pulling the box out and looking at it.  
  
_Funny_, she thought. _Before Christmas, it was just a hobby. Now they mean something_. James had given her so much and she didn't feel as if she'd been able to return any of it. She was determined to change that, if she had to work all night. _Doesn't look as if my last night in Hogwarts is going to be spent sleeping, does it?_ she asked herself, amused.   
  
"_Wingardium Leviosa_," Lily said, levitating her trunk out of her bedroom into the middle of the Common Room. She checked her watch. It was five til nine; she had five minutes before the Marauders arrived.  
  
James was bent over his trunk in the middle of the Common Room, trying to repack his clothes so the rest of his schoolbooks would fit. She couldn't help it. She laughed.  
  
"You know, you could help instead of merely laughing at my misfortune," he told her. She gave another laugh but bent down beside him and together, they got all his belongings inside.   
  
"I have something for you," she told him, handing him a wrapped package. "Graduation present." He finished latching his trunk, stood up, and ran a hand through his hair while turning the package over in his other hand. He tore the paper off and uncovered a leather bound book. He arched an eyebrow at her.  
  
"You got me a _book_?"  
  
"Read the title." He did. _Capturing the Seeker_ was embossed on the front cover. _As seen by Lily Evans_ ran along the bottom. A photograph was also on the front, of him, at a Quidditch match. He watched as his picture self caught the Snitch and circled in triumph. A smile spread slowly across his face. "Only worthwhile picture I ever took with a camera," she joked.  
  
"Lily . . ." She crossed to where he stood in front of the fire. He opened to the front page.   
  
"It's everything I ever wrote about you," she told him. "Starting with my diary entry on the train the first time I met you that sparked the obsession and ending with the piece I showed you just after Christmas. There's a few new ones near the back, too, that I've written since Christmas." His eyes scanned the first page.  
  
_Dear Diary,  
  
I'm not even at school yet, and I've already made an enemy. I don't get it! It isn't fair! A fifth-year named Lucius Malfoy came into my compartment and called me a . . . Mudblood, I think it was. I don't even know what that means, but I don't think it's anything good. Then he threw a curse at me! He locked my legs together, and would have done something worse, except three boys came in and chased him out. Then one of them did the counter-curse. But he was only a first-year like me, so how does he know any magic? His name is James Potter, and he's so arrogant! It wasn't like he was even doing it for me. He was just showing off for his two friends. Ugh, I don't care what House I get put in, I just hope he's not in it_!  
  
James laughed.  
  
"You left quite an impression, you know. Not the best one, either. But I just feel like I haven't given you anything. I know I don't have to, but you've given me so much, I just wanted to return the favor. This was all I could do, really, on such short notice, and I hope it's good enough –" She was silenced by a hand over her mouth. She looked up at James.  
  
"Lily, sometimes you just plain _talk_ too much!"

* * *

He stood there, his hand covering her mouth, and wasn't sure just what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, yes, but he didn't want to jeopardize their friendship again. But – he couldn't stop himself. Taking a steadying breath, telling himself he would take what came next with grace, he leaned down and kissed her quickly on the lips.   
  
_She's going to slap me_, he thought. He stiffened, closing his eyes, and turned his cheek toward her to give her a better target. This was probably why he missed the huge, genuine smile on her face after he pulled away. And why he never saw what came next until it had happened.  
  
She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. He could hardly believe what was happening. He didn't dare believe it – but he opened his eyes, and, sure enough, Lily Evans was kissing him. Voluntarily. In fact, it had been her idea.  
  
Her book fell to the floor as he put his arms around her and kissed her back.  
  
Neither of them noticed the portal opening and the three Marauders clamoring in. Then Sirius spoke.   
  
"Hey, James, where – ugh, Prongs, that's disgusting." James couldn't help but laugh. Lily felt him smile into her mouth before breaking the kiss to bury his head in her neck, laughing. "I mean, come on. We didn't come in here to watch you two snog."  
  
Lily pursed her lips, deposited James, still laughing, on the sofa, and walked over to Sirius. She crossed her arms and looked at him, not saying a word. He paled and swallowed. "I'll have you know, Sirius," she said finally, "that you just ruined a perfectly good moment."  
  
"No, I'd say he made an even better one," Remus said, laughing. He pointed at James. Lily glanced at him, just finally beginning to gasp for breath. She rolled her eyes.  
  
"I'll have to deal with him later." She turned her attention to James. "Come on, Chuckles. We've got to go see Dumbledore."

* * *

Two hours later, James and Lily dismissed the Prefects from their compartment as the Hogwarts Express rushed through the countryside, on its way back to London. James was talking to Remus as Lily watched the countryside streaming by.  
  
"So, Peter and Sirius are saving us a compartment. You coming?"   
  
"Yeah, I'll be right there. Got to tidy up in here first." Remus left and James realized as he turned back that Lily was crying. "Lils, what's wrong?" James asked, hurrying over and wrapping his arms around her. She continued to stare out the window.  
  
"Where am I going to go?" she asked softly. She finally brought her attention inside the compartment. "Where am I going to go now, James? I'm leaving my home, I've got no place left."  
  
"You stay with your sister, don't you?" Lily gave a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob.  
  
"Petunia? Only because I had to. She hates me, James. She hates that I'm a witch. I think she's scared of me. It's always just been us and Dad. Mum passed away shortly after I got my letter. She was real sick and had been since I was born. But she was proud of me. Then Dad died last year while I was home for the summer, and, I don't know. It's like Petunia blames me. He was never the healthiest either. They had me and Petunia very late in life, and it was beginning to show in him, now that his daughters were sixteen and twenty-one."  
  
"So, aren't you going back there? With Petunia?"  
  
"No. She won't let me. Sent me my first piece of mail since second year last week. 'I'm getting married. Don't even think about coming back here this summer. I don't want you underfoot. Find one of your freaky friends to live with.' That's what it said. No greeting, no signature, just don't come home." They stood in silence for a minute.  
  
"My door's always open, you know." Lily turned around to look him in the eye.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You can stay with me. My mum would love to have you. The more the merrier, as far as she's concerned. She'd put you up, no questions asked."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really." He leaned down slightly and kissed her. After a moment, she laid her head on his chest.  
  
"I hate having to. I hate not having a home. It wouldn't bother me so much if things had always been this way. But they weren't. Petunia used to be my best friend. She was five years older than me and she let me follow her everywhere. But now? If she ever has kids, and that is a scary thought, they'll never meet me. I'll just be 'crazy Aunt Lily,' if I'm even mentioned, someone to avoid at all costs. But more than likely Petunia will just conveniently forget to mention that her children even _have_ an Aunt." Tears of anger filled her eyes for a moment.  
  
"It's not so much how she treats me. I mean, I wish I knew _why_. I wish she'd just _talk_ to me, but I know I can take it and move on. It's the knowledge that if I ever have kids, and something should happen to me, they'll go to Petunia. Can you imagine Petunia taking care of children of mine? She'd make them . . . sleep in the cupboard under the stairs or something! Because they were my children, she'd never treat them fairly. She'd never love them." Her voice lost its anger as she spoke, and James just held her, letting her cry.   
  
"All the magic in the world can't bring my sister back to me," she whispered. "And that's something I truly regret."   
  
They stood there for a few minutes, then Lily stood up straight and laughed a little, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cry all over you."  
  
James shrugged. "You know what?" he asked.  
  
"What?" He smiled.  
  
"I think I finally found what I've been seeking."  
  
"And I caught myself a Seeker."  
  
"I prefer to think that the Seeker caught you."  
  
"That's your preference, isn't it, Potter?"  
  
"It is. You got something to say about it, Evans?" She smiled.   
  
"Yes. I have a good many things to say about it."  
  
"Then I'll have to keep you around until I hear them all, won't I?"  
  
"You certainly will. Because I for one am not leaving until you do."  
  
"I was counting on that." He put his arm around her and they walked out of the compartment together.   
  
"Same time next week?"  
  
"Always."

* * *

The last and final part is: Remembering the Seeker  
  
Keep an eye out for it!  
  
Now, if you enjoyed this story as much as its predecessor, or didn't, or if it even made you laugh a little, please let me know! Push the little button and leave a message. You_ know_ you want to! My Thanks!


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